Electric furnace for metallurgical purposes.



H. HJ. BUGKMAN, JR. ELBGTRIG PURNAGE FOR METALLURGIGAL PURPOSES. APPLICATION FILED JUNE 30, 1913,

1,092,764. Eatented Apr. 7, 1914 TTORNEY.

HENRY H. BUCKMAN, JR., OF INDE A.NAPOLIS.7 INDI'ANA.

'ELECTRIC FURNACE FOR METALLRG-ICAL PURPOSES.l

noemer'.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 7', 1914.

' Application filed .Tune 30, 1913. Serial No. 776,665.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, HENRY H. BUCKMAN,

i Jr., a citizen I'of the United States, and a resident ofvndianapolis, county of Marion, and State of Indiana, have invented a certain new and useful Electric Furnace for Metallurgical Purposes; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being 'had to the accompanying drawings, in which like letters refer to like parts.

The object of this invention is to provide electrodes in an electrical furnace which.

move or .revolve over the surface of the metalv in the hearth, during theoperatmn of the rt'urnace,v so as to distribute the heat`to Aall portions of the body of metal to be treatedA and thus greatlv facilitate and economize tht' treatment of the metal.

Heretofore in electrical furnaces the elec 4trodes' have been usually arranged so as not to have horizontal movement an therefore, so far as' horizontal movement is concerned, they/'have been in a fixed position. The effeet of this arrangement has been to localize the 'heat treatment of the electrodesv to a small `portion of the metal in the heart-h. W ith this invention the electrodes are horizontally moved or revolved over and close to the surface of the met-al to be treated so .that the heat treatment will not be localized, but made general throughout the. massof metal. For this VAreason the metal will be treated in very short time andv with small consumption of electrical energy.

vWhile inthe furnace herein shown all of the electrodes are above the mass of metaland all revolve. still the invention is not limited to such an arrangementprovided 'the electrodes are arranged so that as some of them more, the heat or zone of heat will be moved through the'me'tal as the electrode or electrodes are moved.

The nature of the invent-ion will be understood from the accompanyino' drawings and the following;-descriptionV4 and claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 's a vertical non-central section through a Ifhrtion of the furnace. Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectionon the line 2-2 of Fig. 1. Fig. is a vertical section on the line 3-3 of Fig'. 2.

ln detail there is shown herei a hearth 10 made of refractory materia of usual character for such furnaces and having spindles 11 whereby it 1s mounted on a suitable -frame `or support which .is A not shown.

Vsaid axis than the electrode 15.

theelectrodes 15 and 16, as they revolve,'

. Vithin said hearth there is abody of metal 12 to be treated which has upon its upper surface the usual layer 13 of slag and above and close to the slag there areshown three electrodes 14, 15 and. 16. i

The electrodes are carried by a horizontal electrode support 17 integral with or in any wise secured to a vertical rotary member 18 which is mounted 4in a frame or structure, not shown, so as tobe rotatable and it has secured around it and to it a gear 19 vto vwhich power is applied through means not shown for rotating said vertical member 18 and'said electrode support 17, and thus revolve said electrodes in a horizontal plane immediately over the metal to be treated Within the furnace The vertical member 18 of the electrode 'supporting means is provided with a chamber 2O for water to cool it'and said chamber is in communication with chambers `21 in the horizontal member' 17 through which the Water circulates for keeping the member 17 also cool.

The electrodes are secured in the support 17 by refractory1 insulating material 22. There is also wit in the member 18 suitable refractory insulating materialv in which electrical conductors 211 and 25 arevmounted. The conductor 24 extends through the insulating material 23 down to the middle 'electrode 14, while theconductor 25 at its lower end divides into two branches, 26 running to electrode 16 and 27 running to electrode 16, and these branches 26 and 27 eX- tend through or are surrounded by refractory material 2S for protecting, the copper conductors' from the heat.

The' electrode supporting means should be mounted so as to be vertically adjusted, but the means for doing this is lnot shown, as the idea is old in furnaces of this type. lt is new, however, to arrange said electrodes and their supports so as to revolve the elec-v trodes in a horizontal plane and it is to be' noted that the electrodes are eccentrically located, the axis of their support being substantially at one edge of the middle electrode v14 and the electrode 16 .being farther from Therefore,

will not travel in the same path and electrode'14, as it revolves, Will swing around the axis and, therefore, cover a considerable path. `The electrode 14 has different polarity fromthat of the electrodes 15 and 16,.so that said electrodes 15 and 16 have -immediately beneath, and passes from the velectrode 14k in opposite directions to the other two electrodes through the metal, the Zoneof influence 'extending down through the body of metal practically to the bottom of the body of metal 12, and this zone of electrical heat or influence travels or re' volves around through the body oi metal as the electrodes are slowly revolved and by reason ofthe eccentric position of the electrodes, by the time they have made one revolution they havemoved said zones of electrical iniiuence through. practically the entire massof .the metal and they distribute the heat equally throughout the same. It is evident that this movement of the heating means tor distributingl the, heat will facili-` tate the heating of the metal and correspondingly reduce the total amount ot' electrical energy" consumed.

The invention is: 4

1 .An electric metallurgical furnace including a refractory hearth, -horizontal ro tatable electrode supportin,e` means extending` down intothc hearth, and a plurality oit' electrodes of diii'erent polarity extending` down from said supiliorting means and lorated at different distances fronrthe axis thereof,

2. An electric metallurgical furnace in cluding a refractory hearth, horizontal rotatable electrode supporting means extending' down into the hearth, and a plurality of electrodes ot different polarity extending down from said supportingmeans, one electrode or" one polarity being located substantially midway oetiveen the electrodes of the other polarity.

3. An electric metallurgical furnace in#` cluding a refractory hearth, horizontal rotatable electrode supporting means extending down into the hearth, and a plurality of electrodes ofdiil'erent polarity extending down from said supporting means, one of said electrodes being located near the axis of said supporting means and the remaining electrodes being oi a different polarity and located substantially equidistant from said first mentioned electrode. Il. An electric metallurgical furnace including a refractory hearth, an electrode support projecting` into said hearthiand mounted so as to be rotatable horizontally, a plurality'of electrodes extending down trom the lower A and ot' said supporting means, and conductors for said electrodes 'extending` through and insulated ktroni said supporting means 5. An electric metallurgical furnace including a refractory hearth, an electrode support projectinfY into said hearth and mounted so as to be rotatable horizontally, a plurality of electrodes extending down from the lower end of said supportinfr means, and a plurality of conductors entending through said supportiup,- means, one of said conductors running to one electrode and the other conductor connected with the other electrodes.

vin witness whereof, l have hereunto fixed my signature in the presence otthe witnesses herein named.

HENRY HL BCKMAN, Jn.

litncsses y J. H. VELLS,

0. lid. MCLAUGHLHL 

